ACAV Meeting Report                             20^th August 2019

Held at Parks Victoria Bourke Street and Halls Gap offices via video conferencing link.

Six months after the announcement of the world’s most extensive rock climbing bans in the Grampians National Park, our land manager Parks Victoria held a Rock Climbing Round Table meeting on Tuesday 20^th August 2019.

This long overdue consultation has been prompted by mounting pressure on the land manager from a respectful yet insistent climbing community. Climbers have made strong representations across many platforms in support of climbing as a respected and beneficial activity.

ACAV members will be interested to know the key issues under discussion. We have been asked to omit direct quotations from this meeting and be mindful of any sensitive items. Hence we have not spoken for other rock climbing attendees. Parks Victoria will be issuing formal minutes within a week or two. These were the main items under discussion.

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ACAV Meeting Notes

1. Jeff Floyd, Parks Victoria Chairman hosted the meeting.
2. Parks Victoria invited rock climbing representatives on the basis of their involvement in the Founding Council.
3. An independent facilitator, Mark Dingle (Deloitte Australia) chaired the meeting.
4. The meeting agenda was open ended.
5. Parks Victoria expressed surprise at the scale of the bans, the global importance of Grampians rock climbing and the depth of concern within the climbing community.
6. Parks Victoria expressed a willingness to facilitate wider discussions on Grampians rock climbing under this forum, to bring Traditional Owners and rock climbers together. It was noted that the Traditional Owners are contemplating this possibility.
7. Parks Victoria will provide information at the next round table meeting regarding ongoing archaeological survey work in the Grampians. This is to give the rock climbing community some insight into the relevant cultural heritage issues.
8. Parks Victoria stated a clear motivation to support rock climbing under a Healthy Parks, Healthy People strategy.
9. ACAV requested the proactive assistance of Parks Victoria in the major task of rehabilitating the reputation of climbers in Victoria, following the events of the last six months.
10. ACAV welcomed this initiative to begin comprehensive consultation with the rock climbing community.
11. ACAV proposed the major objective of creating a Victorian Climbing Management Plan as an Appendix to the 2021 Grampians Landscape Management Plan. This ACAV draft document is in progress. Community consultation phase to follow. ACAV to be a paid consultant to clarify the legal status of the VCMP within the GLMP.
12. ACAV stated that cliff-by-cliff risk assessment works were under way, initially as a desktop exercise using climbing community expertise. This is to mitigate known environmental risks to ISO 31000:2018 Risk Management standards. To be expanded to cover cultural heritage risks subject to further knowledge.
13. An executive summary of the ACAV Environmental Action Plan will be forwarded to Parks Victoria for review.
14. ACAV suggested that it would be beneficial for a senior Parks Victoria representative to undertake an overseas study visit to a rock climbing location that has successfully managed rock climbing in a similar context with cultural heritage and environmental challenges.
15. ACAV offered existing research data into climbing visitation in the Grampians and offered to assist with the promotion of climbing in a sustainable manner.
16. ACAV reiterated a request for ACAV representation on the Stakeholder Reference Group panel for the proposed Grampians Landscape Management Plan process. The single place available has been granted to Paula Toal as the assumed representative of the Founding Council. ACAV noted that the Founding Council is at concept stage and that it holds no authority in the area of climbing access. Furthermore there has been no selection process for the leadership of the Founding Council as there is no membership to formulate a vote. ACAV has been denied a place on the Stakeholder Reference Group and will raise this issue at a later date.
17. This meeting is likely to be the first in a series of Rock Climbing Round Table meetings. Follow up meeting to be advised, likely to be in 4 weeks’ time.

At the end of July the ACAV Committee asked members of the climbing community to assist us with influencing policy development by making a submission to the various strategies and plans currently open to community feedback here. 

One of those plans was the Engage Victoria initiative by Parks Victoria to assist with shaping the next Grampians Landscape Management Plan.

Parks Victoria have now released dates for workshops in various locations across Victoria for members of the community to attend. The objective of  the workshops is to collect input from the community and stakeholders to inform the Grampians Landscape Management Plan.

Workshop dates and times are:

• Halls Gap workshop, Thursday 5 September 2019, 6.30-8.30pm
• Laharum workshop, Tuesday 10 September 2019, 6.30-8.30pm
• North Melbourne workshop, Thursday 12 September 2019, 6.00-8.00pm
• Halls Gap drop-in, Tuesday 17 September 2019, 12.00-3.00pm
• Dunkeld workshop, Tuesday 17 September 2019, 6.30-8.30pm
• North Melbourne workshop, Thursday 19 September 2019, 6.00-8.00pm

The ACAV Committee encourages all members of the climbing community to sign up to a workshop to ensure that climbing is embedded in the future planning of the Grampians National Park/Gariwerd. This is a critical strategy that climbers should take the time to provide input. 

We urge you to register for a workshop here.

Please note that places for each workshop are limited. RSVP now to reserve your spot and opportunity to have a say in the future of climbing. Please share this communication to ensure that climbers are well represented at each workshop so that rock climbing in the Grampians National Park/Gariwerd is protected for future generations of users.

Regards,

ACAV Committee

It is important to ensure the benefits of climbing and related activities are on the political agenda and recognised at the policy level. The following strategies are currently open for consultation. The ACAV is preparing submissions for each of these and are seeking interested volunteers with experience in submission writing to assist. Please get in touch via acav@climb.org.au.

ACAV has received the first of two Freedom of Information (FOI) requests that were submitted earlier this year. 

ACAV pursued the FOI avenue due to the lack of information available about the rationale for the wide sweeping rock climbing bans across the Grampians National Park. There were efforts to obtain information directly from Parks Victoria however responses were not forthcoming.  

NAIDOC (National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance Committee) week commences on Monday 7 July, 2019.

Celebrations will be held across Australia to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander peoples.

On 6th June, Minister D’Ambrosio responded to the parliamentary question lodged in May by David Limbrick MP and the response certainly has many of our members, the climbing community and everyone at ACAV headquarters exceptionally concerned.

Either the Minister has been misinformed by her staff and Parks Victoria, or she is deliberately obfuscating.

Mr Limbrick’s original request was via a parliamentary question which aimed to get to the bottom of the reasons for the bans which were initiated by Parks Victoria in February 2019. Mr Limbrick asked the question, directly to the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change during Parliament. ACAV worked with Mr Limbrick to structure a question which aimed to finally bring some clarity to the bans, as reasons for the bans appeared to be incorrect. Parks Victoria had quoted that climbers specifically were causing damage to cultural art and the environment and this was the basis for implementing the largest bans to climbing in the world. There is no question that any interaction with nature will have some impact. However, ACAV are adamantly contesting the impact that is underpinning these bans. Our friends over at Save Grampians Climbing undertook a #FactChecking mission which dispelled the “evidence based” reasons for the exclusion of rock climbing across large parts of Gariwerd. The evidence simply does not exist.

Off the back of this week’s meeting with the minister’s office (see report here), ACAV conclude that Minister D’Ambrosio has been misinformed.

David Limbrick – Two Further Questions to The Minister, 7th June 2019

David Limbrick MP has submitted two further parliamentary questions yesterday June 7 and now we are awaiting answers from the Minister’s Office. The questions were put forward by ACAV and then perfectly framed in the political context by Mr Limbrick.

The questions asked by Mr Limbrick can be found here.

The second question (are the bans legal, Minister?) targets very specific items of the Ministers responsibilities in respect to correct execution of the National Parks Act. The Gariwerd Special Protection Areas either impose a ban on climbing or they do not. ACAV has prepared a research paper on this subject. The Minister would be well advised to seek legal counsel before answering this question.

ACAV has asked for a meeting with Minister D’Ambrosio directly to discuss our concerns about how this issue is being managed. ACAV advised the Ministers Office at the meeting on Wednesday that we are working on a GARIWERD CLIMBING MANAGEMENT PLAN which draws in best practice climbing site management from established rock climbing locations around the world. This plan will ensure that climbing activities promote and enhance care for the environment and cultural heritage now, and into the future for generations to come. The opportunities for Reconciliation are plain to see with rock climbers as stewards and allies in the protection of cultural heritage and environmental values.

ACAV has engaged with Aboriginal Victoria and a senior staff member from that organization is now assisting ACAV to understand and navigate the cultural landscape with Traditional Owners.

The government respondent to Mr Limbrick’s powerful questions yesterday was fortuitously the Hon. Gavin Jennings, Special Minister of State, Minister for Priority Precincts and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs. We look forward to assisting Minister Jennings along with Minister D’Ambrosio and we have requested a meeting to discuss these issues.

ACAV was announced to the Australian climbing community on Friday 20th April 2019, with the support of a number of prominent climbers.

This small website has been created to explain what the ACAV is, and how it will contribute to the resolving of climbing access issues in Victoria.

An inaugural meeting to incorporate as the Australia Climbing Assocation of Victoria Inc. (ACAV Inc) has been scheduled for 7pm, Thursday 16th May at Urban Climb Collingwood.

There will be a short presentation, followed by a vote to incorporate. Note that only financial members are able to vote. Join here or you can join online on the night.

Get involved:
– Nominate to be on the ACAV committee and help shape the work of ACAV (committee will be voted in at the next meeting).
– Volunteer your skills and time to assist in the work of ACAV
– Ask your climbing club to contact ACAV to discuss an affiliation arrangement